Specifying the External Impact on Fluvial Lowland Evolution: the Last Glacial Tis(Z)a Catchment In Hungary and Serbia

Abstract

External impact on the development of fluvial systems is generally exerted by changes in sea level, climate and tectonic movements. In this study it is shown that regional to local differentiation of fluvial response may be caused by semi-direct effects of climate change and tectonic movement, as for instance vegetation cover, frozen soil, snow cover and longitudinal gradient. Such semi-direct effects may be responsible for specific fluvial activity resulting in proper drainage patterns, sedimentation series and erosion-accumulation rates. These conclusions are exemplified by the study of the Tis(z)a catchment in the Pannonian Basin in Hungary and Serbia from the middle of the last glacial to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Previous investigations in that catchment are supplemented here by new geomorphological-sedimentological data and OSL-dating. Specific characteristics of this catchment in comparison with other regions are the preponderance of meandering systems during the last glacial and the presence of very large meanders in given time intervals.

Geomorphological evolution of the Petrovaradin Fortress Palaeolithic site (Novi Sad, Serbia)

“…The morphological position of the site at the top of a hill opposes slope wash processes. Moreover, the grain-size characteristics (e.g., clay and sand content) are similar to those of the overbank deposits of the tributary Tisa River (Vandenberghe et al, 2018). It is interpreted that the sediments in the section originated from the erosion of loessic bluffs along the course of the Danube river.…”

“…The higher sand content accompanied by the presence of pebbles and the occasional bedding indicates transport by running water. Such characteristics are typical for floodplain or local slope wash deposits (Vandenberghe et al, 2012(Vandenberghe et al, , 2018Vandenberghe, 2013). In the former case, the Petrovaradin sediments may be considered as deposited directly by the Danube on top of a terrace, in the latter case they could have been derived at a more local scale from higher terraces or slopes by surface runoff.…”